Scottish Text Society publications > Old series > Kingis quair

THE KINGIS QUAIR.
S
This Is to seyne, how that eche estate,
As fortune lykith, thame will [oft] translate.
9 For sothe It is, that, on hir tolter quhele,
Euery wight cleumth In his stage,
And failyng foting oft, quhen hir lest rele,
Sum vp, sum doun, Is non estate nor age
Ensured, more the prynce than the page:
So vncouthly hir werdes sche deuidith,
Namly In ^outh, that seildin ought prouidith.
10 Among thir thoughtis rolling to and fro,
Fell me to mynd of my fortune and vre;
In tender jouth how sche was first my fo,
And eft my frende, and how I gat recure
Off my distress^, and all myn aue^ture
I gan oure-hayle, that lang<?r slepe ne rest
Ne my^t I nat, so were my wittis wrest.
11 For-wakit and for-walowit, thus musing,
Wery, forlyin, I lestnyt sodaynlye,
And sone I herd the bell to matyhs ryng,
And vp I rasG no langur wald I lye :
Bot now, how trowe }e ? suich a fantasye
Fell me to mynd, that ay me tho^/A the bell
Said to me, “tell on, man, quhat the befell.”
12 Thogv^t I tho to my-self, “ quhat may this be ?
This is myu awin ymagynacioua ;
It is no lyf that spekA vnto me;
It is a bell, or that impressiou//
Off my tho^t causith this Illusiouw,
That dooth me think so nycely in this wiser j”
And so befell as I schall rjou deuiser.